Rusty Rhoades, state commissioner of public safety, gestures as he testifies during the Oklahoma Legislature’s joint working group on medical marijuana at the state Capitol Wednesday. (Photo by Emmy Verdin)

OKLAHOMA CITY – Law enforcement officials testified before the Legislature’s joint working group on medical marijuana Wednesday but they might have raised more questions than they answered.

The bicameral and bipartisan committee has been meeting weekly to discuss State Question 788. It has heard recommendations from patient advocates, medical marijuana trade organizations and officials within the Oklahoma State Department of Health, which is regulating the industry.

On Wednesday, lawmakers heard from several agencies, including the Department of Public Safety, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, the District Attorneys Council and local police departments. The hearing revealed more of what is already known: Several policies remain unclear.

That is problematic, said Rusty Rhoades, the commissioner of public safety. Clarity is vital in his field, and the laws leave open room for interpretation.

“There’s not a lot of gray area in law enforcement,” he said.

Several speakers focused on recognizing and identifying driver impairment. Although general officer training can help troopers, sheriff’s deputies or police officers detect impairment, gauging whether the driver is dangerously impaired is another matter.

“That’s where the lines get blurry,” Rhoades said.

Each of the potential solutions raised cost concerns. The International Association of Chiefs of Police offers a drug recognition expert, or DRE, training course, but it costs thousands of dollars. So do machines that analyze saliva samples to test for marijuana levels.

Several lawmakers and speakers said there is some confusion about which laws to apply when residents illegally possess small amounts of marijuana. State Question 780 reclassified simple marijuana possession as a misdemeanor, which can carry a $1,000 fine. State Question 788 states that residents who lack a card but can show they have a condition that would qualify for one should be subject to a $400 fine.

House Floor Leader Jon Echols, the group’s co-chair, asked each speaker which law should be enforced. Rhoades said that is up in the air.

“Quite honestly, we don’t know,” he said. “There is conflict and confusion in that arena.”

Tulsa Police Department Deputy Chief Jonathan Brooks said that is even more problematic for officers because the law never requires a list of qualifying conditions. He said it’s uncertain who decides whether the resident has a condition that would let him or her face a $400 fee instead of the $1,000 fee.

Wade Gourley is a deputy chief within the Oklahoma City Police Department. He said he isn’t concerned about the initial lack of clarity when it comes to his day-shift officers, who can call for outside help. It is the officers responding to calls at 2 or 3 in the morning who can’t reach out to superiors or outside experts when they are confused.

“Those processes need to be very clear for them … when they’re out there by themselves in the middle of the night,” Gourley said.

District Attorneys Council Chairman Brian Hermanson is the district attorney in Kay and Noble counties. He raised concerns about the kinds of crime Oklahoma will likely see in the post-SQ 788 world, especially after the state’s alcohol modernization laws go into effect in October, allowing residents easier access to wine and high-point beer.

Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Director John Scully voiced several worries, but he was the first to discuss hash oil labs, where people will use butane as a solvent to extract THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana, to make concentrated products like waxes. Those kinds of products are highly potent. In other states, the butane has caused explosions, which can harm and kill people.

Scully said the state’s law enforcement officers can employ their experience with methamphetamine labs to safely approach and clean hash oil labs; however, there are no protocols in place to address those specifically.

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